Where Marketing is Going … in 2013 and Beyond

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2013 is already shaping up to be an epic year for marketers and writers. It’s the year that content, social, search, and email are coming together, working in sync for the greater good of marketing-kind.

It’s also the year that wise marketing departments will use analytics and automation to scale their efforts and make better decisions.

It’s the year that content tipped from being an interesting option to being a must-have.

And paired with that, it’s The Year of the Online Writer — in other words, the year that content creators begin to be valued as the creators of valuable assets, rather than an expense on the balance sheet.

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Is Pinterest Traffic Worthless?

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You’ve seen tons of articles raving about it.

How it’s driving more traffic than anything in the known universe. How you need to be “pinning” and have “pinnable stuff” or you’re going to fail at this magical new social network. How it’s the greatest thing since, well, the last greatest thing.

And you want someone to be straight with you. So here’s the truth …

Pinterest traffic is worthless.

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Introducing The Lede: A Copywriting and Online Marketing Sheet

The Lede | copyblogger.com

Welcome to The Lede.

Every week I’ll be digging up and linking to stories, news, and opinion relevant to online marketing and copywriting.

Email, social media, innovation, SEO, productivity, mobile, conversion, publishing, and everything in between.

No commentary, just a fast, single page of headlines that you can grab, scan, and squeeze for all they may (or may not) be worth.

All right then, on with it …

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The Four “Productivity” Personality Types and How to Write for Each One

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If you’re a diligent researcher, you might think you know everything there is to possibly know about your prospect.

Deepest fears, pain points, income, business, marital status, family status. You might even know their hair and eye color.

If you’re writing to that person (and you really have those details correct), your copy will likely convert well.

What you might not know about is a secret weapon you can add into the mix that, if used correctly, can skyrocket your conversions through the roof.

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5 Reasons Why All Freelance Writers Should Learn To Write a Sales Letter

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When was the last time you wrote something with the intent to specifically motivate your readers to take action?

Admit it or not, we’re all in the same game.

Whether you want someone to buy your product, join your email list, retweet or +1 your post, you’re doing one thing — leading your audience down a path at the end of which lies the action they’ll take.

You want them to do something.

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Why Split-Testing is Like Sex in High School

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Everybody’s talking about it.

Most of it is rumor, hearsay, and innuendo …

We idolize the exploits of the people we look up to, and try to skirt the mention of our own experiences (and shortcomings).

No, I’m not talking about sex — I’m talking about split-testing.

What does split-testing have to do with sex?

Actually, quite a lot…

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